NorthLink Ferries Sponsorship

The NorthLink Ferries sponsorship programme is designed to support individuals, local charities, sporting groups and athletes in Orkney and Shetland with free travel and discounted fares.

NorthLink Ferries are committed to playing an active part within the local communities. The variety of individuals and causes supported continue to enrich the islands’ social, cultural and sporting life.

The sponsorship programme is compiled on a six-monthly basis - applications for the next round of sponsorships should be made to the company in March 2008.

SPONSORING IN SHETLAND:

Age Concern Shetland

Age Concern Shetland hold an annual fundraising coffee morning in April in the Lerwick town hall. They run a ‘Good Companions' club on a Wednesday afternoon, providing entertainment, light snacks and companionship. They also have bus outings and a Christmas Lunch for the Over 60's.

Burravoe District Development Group

Burravoe District Development Group is a voluntary organisation which was formed to develop community projects. They are currently have a local shop, and are raising funds a caravan and campsite with facilities.

Connect

CONNECT held a masked charity ball on Saturday 10th November in the Town Hall, Lerwick, and all money raised was spilt between Clan House, Mark Hutchison Trust, and Women of Worth.

Dogs Against Drugs

This organisation in Shetland trains dogs for the detection of drugs. There is no training service available on the islands for this purpose, so training trips to the training school in Durham is essential to maintain and improve the effectiveness of the Drug Detection Dogs on the island.

Scottish Pensions Association – Shetland Branch

This charity group provides support and social events for Shetland pensioners. They are holding a raffle at Christmas to help them raise funds.

Shetland Aid Trust

This charity delivers aid to Albania, Romania and Kosovo annually.

Shetland Amateur Athletics

The Shetland Amateur Athletics Club are fundraising to enable them to attend athletics competitions and coaching courses on the mainland.

Shetland Classic Motor Show

Britains 'top' classic motor show - a major motoring extravaganza which is scheduled to take place on 6th - 9th June 2008, at the Clickimin Centre in Lerwick. A veritable treasure trove of classic machines will be travelling from far and near to participate in one of Shetland's major events.

Shetland Country Music Club

The Shetland Country Music Club holds a ‘Country Night' monthly. In December, the Kate Bain Band, from Caithness, travelled to Shetland to perform.

Shetland Folk Festival

The Shetland folk festival is one of the main events in the Shetland calendar and is held on the 1st – 4th May 2008. The festival is attended by more and more visiting members with at least 100 travelling from far and wide in 2007. This is in addition to the 100 or so musicians who travel up on NorthLink Ferries the night before the festival. It is a great warm up to the proceedings, as they play non-stop, from the ferry departure at Aberdeen till the early hours of the morning.

Shetland Young Musicians

Six talented musicians from Shetland travelled to the 5th Annual Scottish Traditional Music Awards, in Fort William. The group consists of: Gemma MacDonald on the fiddle; Lyn Anderson also on the fiddle; Ryan Couper, on fiddle and guitar; Marianne Coupar on the keyboard; Darren Stewart and Victoria Laurenson on the accordion.
Organiser, Davie Gardner, commented on the trip. “They went down a real storm everywhere they played and got lots of offers for additional bookings into the bargain. They were able to attend the awards ceremony itself which was a great experience for them.”

Shetland Rugby Club

The Shetland Senior Men's XV team compete against 10 teams in the Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia League Division 2 North.

Simmer Dim Rally

The 26th Simmer Dim Motorcycle Rally commences Thursday, 19th June and runs to Sunday, 22nd June 2008.

Splinters Youth Theatre

Shetland drama group, Splinters Youth Theatre, are a self supporting group who have entered the 2008 Scottish Community Drama Association Festival, in Aberdeen in early March, and if they are successful, they will compete in the Youth Area Finals in Orkney in mid March.

WRVS

WRVS is a national charity which has been active in Shetland since 1999. The WRVS Christmas event was held on the 20th December.

Arran Hunter

Arran attended the National Piping School in Glasgow during the week 15th-19th October 2007. He got on very well and received a certificate of distinction for his efforts.

Christine Jamieson

Christine has been chosen to represent Scotland in the Under-17 Netball Squad. She attends training and games in Glasgow Caledonian Sports Centre once a month.

Mary Rutherford

Mary attends rehearsals, workshops and concerts with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland.

Roy Wood

Roy travels south to take part in tournaments and to develop his badminton skills. He competes in the Scottish Schools Badminton Union Under-14 doubles and singles. He was ranked 5th at the end of last season.

SPONSORING IN ORKNEY:

Hamnavoe Carers

Hamnavoe carers have a bus, with disabled access, to help disadvantaged people to go shopping, hospital, etc. They are fundraising to help pay for the new bus which they got last year.

Kirkwall Squash Club

The Kirkwall Squash Club held the Highland Team Tournament in October, which brought teams from the Highlands, Aberdeen and Shetland to Orkney for the tournament.

Orkney Badminton Association

The Orkney Badminton Association are fundraising for trips to Caithness for tournaments, for both Seniors and Juniors.

Orkney Blide Trust

Orkney Blide Trust is a charity, a company and a voluntary organisation. They provide a number of different services for people with mental health problems and their carers across Orkney and are fundraising in the run up to Christmas.

Orkney Folk Festival

The 26th Orkney Folk Festival will be held on the 22nd – 25th May 2008. The festival will include local and visiting artists performing at various venues across Orkney and is an important event on the calendar to audiences both locally and from further afield.

Orkney Pony Club

Pony Club Members travel to participate and compete in National Events on the mainland, in particular the Pony Club Mounted Games.

Orkney Riding Club

Riding Club Members travel to the mainland to attend Nation British Riding Club Events.

Orkney Rugby Club

The ORFC 1 st XV team compete against 9 teams in the Scottish Hydro Electric Caledonia League Division 1.

Orkney Traditional Music Project

The Orkney Traditional Music Project was founded in 1998 to revive the teaching of fiddle and accordion music in the islands. Almost 200 children (and a few adults) benefit from the weekly tuition on offer and anyone with an interest in music can take part. They do not receive outside funding and, through their own fundraising and generous donations, they are able to continue with the Project. The Orkney Traditional Music Project is fortunate to have so many talented people who give their time to pass on their musical skills. However, with the help of NorthLink sponsorship, the Orkney Traditional Music Project is able to bring in tutors from outwith Orkney.

Palace Players

The Palace Players are a locally based charity that produce plays and work with youth groups. This year they produced the Kirkwall Christmas pantomime, The Snow Queen.

St Magnus Festival

The St Magnus Festival, an annual celebration of the arts will be held over midsummer, between 20th – 25th June 2008.

West Mainland Branch of the Pony Club

The members of the West Mainland branch of the Pony Club will be travelling to attend training sessions at Collimore Equestrian Centre, and a friendly show-jumping competition with the Ross-shire Pony Club.

West Mainland Strathspey and Reel Society

Members of the West Mainland Strathspey and Reel Society meet weekly to practise, for the main concert held in March. They are fundraising for a trip to Norway in July 2008.

Christina Bichan

Christina travels to the mainland with her horses to attend training and competitions.

Shaun Raeburn

Shaun, aged 13, attends swimming competitions both locally and south. He competed at the North District Scottish Amateur Swimming Association competitions in December and January and Scottish Nationals competitions in Glasgow in March. He won Junior Male Sportsperson of the Year, at the 2006 Orkney Sports awards, and was nominated in 2007.

Terri, Kelly and Jack Reid

The Reids take their horse off the Island to compete in the British Show Jumping Association competitions. Terri is now starting to teach other children and is hoping to travel south over the winter to obtain further training to help her with this. Kelly will be attending the Pony Club Mounted Games, British Show Jumping Association events and training for the Scottish Mounted Games team over the winter months. Jack will also be attending the Pony Club Mounted Games and training courses too.

Rebecca and Matthew Reid

Rebecca, aged 14, and Matthew, aged 12, both attend training once per month, and competitions both locally and south. Having just competed in the Orkney Intersport Open Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles, they also competed in the Highland Restricted Junior under 13 and under 15's, which was held in Inverness in November.

Jack Rendall

Jack has been chosen to play in the Highland Division Under-16 Hockey Squad for boys. He attends training in Inverness regularly, and the team played their first game in Edinburgh in November.

Claire Wilson

Claire is in both the Orkney Junior and Senior Netball teams. She has been chosen for the Scotland Under-17 Netball Squad and regularly attends training in Glasgow . Claire won the Junior Female Sportsperson of the Year Award at the Orkney Sports Awards held in November.

SPONSORING ON THE MAINLAND:

Caithness Big Band

The Caithness Big Band held a charity event in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief each year, in memory of band member John Marshall who died of cancer.

Cash for Kids Auction

Northsound Radio holds an auction in November in aid of Cash For Kids. Each year Northsound clears all its scheduled programmes over one weekend and for 18 hours does nothing but sell items and services, all of which have been donated. Amongst these are NorthLink Ferries travel vouchers. The event usually raises £50,000 which goes into grants to disabled and disadvantaged children through the Northsound transmission area.

Diced Cap Charitable Trust

The Diced Cap Appeal helps raise money to donate to local charities. This year they are holding a Black Tie Charity Ball, fundraising to send 40 terminally ill children and their families to DisneyLand in Paris , as this may be the last holiday that these families have together.

Maud Playgroup and Rising 5's

A small committee led playgroup catering for children aged two to school age. The Maud Playgroup and Rising 5's held a fundraising coffee morning in October to raise funds for the group.

Northern Nashville Caithness Country Music Festival

The Northern Nashville Caithness Country Music Festival have been running a country music festival since 2004, every Easter weekend in Caithness. The club has recently celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the festival. The five day festival in 2008 is set to have a blend of national and international acts, alongside local artists

Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust

The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust supports young people to start up and to continue in business. They help enable young people to attend and participate in business training or networking events, trade shows and awards ceremonies, on the mainland.

SCAPE

The Scottish Coastal Archaeological and the Problem of Erosion Trust have a photo competition each year. The winners and runners up of this years photo competition will form part of a touring exhibition. The exhibition focuses on coastal heritage, cultural as well as natural, and the threats and problems posed by coastal erosion.
The SCAPE exhibition will be in the Orkney Museum, Tankerness House in Kirkwall from 5th - 27th January, 2008 , and the Shetland Museum in Lerwick from 9th February – 10th March, 2008.

Booking directly with NorthLink Ferries on www.northlinkferries.co.uk is cheaper than booking with another website and we never charge for any amendments made to your booking!